Headboard support

ABSTRACT

The support is an intermediate connecting structure between a bedframe which has its own self-supporting legs and a headboard which is to be supported by the bedframe. The structure has lateral and vertical adjustability for headboards of different widths and heights, and can secure to the headboard by being bolted thereto or by hooking into the conventional crosspins therein.

United States Patent [191 Lazarus [111 3,740,776 [451 June 26, 1973HEADBOARD SUPPORT [76] Inventor: Alan R. Lazarus,709 E. Lincoln,

Anaheim, Calif. 92805 I 22 Filed: June 21,1971

21 Appl. No.: 154,984

3,368,227 2/1968 Underdown 5/296 2,719,309 10/1955 Harris 5/2962,845,636 8/1958 Iaquinta et a]... 5/296 3,644,948 2/1972 Fredman 5/296Primary Examiner-James T. McCall Assistant Examiner-Darrell MarquetteAttorney-Allen A. Dicke, Jr.

[5 7] ABSTRACT The support is an intermediate connecting stracturebetween a bedframe which has its own self-supporting legs and aheadboard which is to be supported by the bedframe. The structure haslateral and vertical adjustability for headboards of different widthsand heights, and can secure to the headboard by being bolted thereto orby hooking into the conventional crosspins therein.

3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures HEADBOARD SUPPORT I which interconnects aself-supporting bedframe and a headboard.

The traditional bed has a side rail on each side and these side railsconnect into a headboard and a footboard to form a rectangular structureupon which is mounted the bedsprings and mattress. Support for the siderails is provided by the headboard and footboard, so that a downwardload is applied from the side rails onto the headboard and footboard.The conventional interconnection therebetween comprises inwardlydirectedsloping fingers on the ends of the side rails which engage pins in theheadboard and footboard. The downward load upon the side rails causestightening of the fingers over the pins, to cause self-tightening of theinterconnection.

Another class of modern bed comprises the bedframe, which is a generallyrectangular structure having its own legs. Often these legs terminate incasters at their lower ends. The bedspring is directly mounted upon thebedframe, and the mattress is located on top thereof. The bedframe-typeof structure thus is directly supported from the floor and has no needfor support by a headboard. Furthermore, conventionally thebedframe-type construction has casters, while the headboard-type ofconstruction does not.

Problems arise, when it is decided that a headboard be secured to abedframe. This is sometimes desirable, when a decorator desires theornamentalcharacteristics of headboard, without the impediment of afootboard. In such an arrangement, a bedframe has a construction asindicated, with the headboard supported at the head thereof. The usualbedframe has no connecting device which permits direct connection to aheadboard. While a flange can be provided, variations in headboards donot permit convenient connection.

SUMMARY In order to aid in the understanding of this invention, it canbe stated in essentially summary form that it is directed to a headboardsupport which is an intermediate connecting structure for attachmentbetween a bedframe and a headboard to support the headboard from thebedframe. The headboard support has suitable adjustability toconveniently connect to headboards of different dimensions.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a headboardsupport which includes structure securable to a bedframe which has itsown legs. It is a further object to provide a headboard support whichhas suitable structure for securement to a standard headboard. It isanother object to provide an intermediate connecting structure between abedframe and a headboard, which has suitable adjustability to provideheadboard connection. It is a further object to provide a headboardsupport which engages the headboard by means of hooks engaging into thestandard crosspins therein. It is yet another object to provide aheadboard support which engages the headboard by being bolted thereto.It is still another object to provide a headboard support whichalternatively or additively permits connection to the headboard by meansof engaging the pins in the headboard, or being bolted to the headboard.It is a further object to provide a headboard support which has suitablelateral and vertical adjustability to engage a headboard and support itabove the floor by. means of a bedframe. It is still another object toprovide a multi-purpose type of headboard support which is capable ofconnecting to any type of headboard to support the headboard withrespect to a bedframe. Other objects and advantages of this inventionwill become apparent from a study of the following portion of thespecification, the claims and the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective viewof the head-. board support of this invention, showing it connected toboth a bedframe and a headboard.

FIG. 3 is a side-elevational view, in reduced scale as compared to FIG.2, with parts broken away, of the headboard support of this invention.

DESCRIPTION In the drawings, two headboard supports, in accordance withthis invention, are illustrated. As seen in FIG. 1, headboard support 10supports the left side of headboard 14 with respect to bedframe 12,while headboard support 16 supports the other side.

Bedframe 12 is a conventional adjustable bedframe having side rails 18and 20. These side rails are in the form of upwardly andinwardly-extending angle irons. The side rails are maintained at a fixeddistance with respect to each other by means of crossbars 22 and 24.These crossbars are adjustable, so that the distance between the siderails can be fixed at an appropriate width. At the appropriate width,the side rails embrace the undersurface and outer edges of a bedspring,to maintain it in position. The bedframe is raised above the floor bymeans of legs and, as illustrated, the legs preferably carry casters, asindicated at 26. Thus, the

bedframe 12 independently supports the entire bed from the floorseparately from any support provided by a headboard or footboard. Suchbedframes are conventional, as illustrated in H. J. Sands US. Pat. No.2,995,761.

There are several varieties of standard headboards, of which headboard14 is one example. As stated above, in one conventional type of bedconstruction, a headboard and footboard support side rails and the siderails, in turn, support the spring and mattress of the bed. Thus,headboard 14 has legs 28 and 30 which, in ordinary application, wouldsupport the bed. The headboard 14 also has a face 32 which extendsacross the legs and is supported by the legs. The face 32 functionallyprevents pillows from falling off the head end of the bed and providesdecorative aspects. Face 32 may be of any of the conventional headboardconstructions from rattan to milled woodwork to upholstery.

The downwardly-extending legs 28 and 30 have conventional slots 34 and36 in the front thereof. Crosspins 38 and 40 extend across slot 34,while crosspins 42 and 44 extend across slot 36. This slot and crosspinconstruction is conventional.

The left and right headboard supports 10 and 16 are symmetricallyidentical and respectively secure the left side rail 18 to the left headboard leg 28, and right side rail 20 to right headboard leg 30. Featuresand details described which are attributed with respect to one of theheadboard supports are equally applicable to the other.

Adaptor 46 is secured to the head end of side rail 18 by means of bolts48 which conveniently have thumbnuts thereon for assembly without tools.Adaptor 46 has a bolt hole through its forward end which carries bolt 50therethrough. Thumbnut 52 is engaged on bolt 50. An ear is punched abovebolt 50 and another ear 'therebelow. The upper ear is indicated at 54.The ears extend outwardly from the outer surface of adaptor 46 to actaskeys.

The ears extend into slot 56 in body bracket 58. The body bracket issubstantially L-shaped, when viewed from the top, and is ofsubstantially uniform cross section, when viewed in that direction. Slot56 is in main web 60 of body bracket 58. Main web 60 has an offset, sothat portion of the main web which carries slot 56 is alignedsubstantially centrally with the flange foot 62 of the body bracket.Bolt 50 is a carriage bolt with its square shoulder in slot 56 and whichextends through slot 56. It has its head on the opposite side of bodybracket 58 from adaptor 46. Thus, ears. 58 guide the body bracket invertical sliding relationship to the adaptor 46, when thumbnut 52 isloose, to permit vertical adjustment followed by clamping by tighteningof thumbnut 52.

The flange foot 62 of body' bracket 58 has slots 64, 66, and 68 therein.These slots are equally spaced and are spaced on the same centers as thecrosspins 38 and 40. The upper pair of slots 64 and 66 serves as onelocation for installation of the bifurcated clamp hook 70, as is seen inFIG. 2. Clamp hook 70 has fingers 72 and 74 thereon, see FIG. 3, whichterminate in hooks 76 and 78, respectively, which respectively engagearound the pins 42 and 44.

Clamp hook 71 in FIG. 3 is of identical construction to the clamp hook70 of FIG. 2. The clamp hooks 70 and 71 are stamped to provide a passagetherethrough in the general plane of the clamp hook for clamp screw 80.As seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, the screw engages upon the flange foot 62 ofthe body bracket so that tightening of the screw tightens the hooks 76and 78 around their crosspins and pulls the flange foot against the legsof the headboard. Thus, secure clamping of the headboard support againstthe headboard leg is accomplished. Gross vertical adjustment isaccomplished by placement of the clamp hook 70 in the other pair 66 and68 of slots, while fine vertical adjustment is accomplished by slidingbody bracket 58 vertically with respect to adaptor 48, with cars 54 inslot 56, followed by tightening of'thumbnut 52.

Transverse adjustment is accomplished by proper positioning of theclamphooks 70 and 71 along the length of the slots 64 and 66 whichextend laterally of the flange 62 of body bracket 58. Lateral adjustmentto permit the width of bedframe 12 to accommodate the width of headboard14 is accomplished by the transverse slots 64 through 68.Verticaladjustment is provided so that the headboard 14 can be suspendedslightly above the floor, or resting only lightly on the floor with theframe 12 carrying the weight of the headboard and the bed. Thus, thebedframe 12 with the headboard 14 so attached 'can be wheeled upon itscasters 26. i

The headboard support can be quickly and easily assembled and fullyadjusted by means of unskilled labor, even in the absence of tools whenthe bolts 48 are equipped with thumb nuts. Since it relies upon hooks,such as hooks 76 and 78 to hold up the headboard, it provides rigidsecurement, especially as compared to the tapered wedge attachment ofthe standard bed sideboard. The clamping force is in the directionparallel to the floor along the rotational axis of screw 80. It shouldalso be noted that the screw 80 is positioned so that its axisisequidistant between crospins 42 and 44.

As an additional means for securing the headboard support to a headboardleg, body bracket 58 is provided with bolt slots 82 and 84 through theflange foot 62 thereof. These bolt slots permit the installation ofbolts therethrough and into or through the leg of the headboard. A fewheadboards are provided with predrilled bolt holes, instead of thecrosspins 38 through 44. In that case, bolts can be installedtherethrough. The lateral length of the bolt slots permits the widthadjustment discussed above. The bolt slots 82 and 84 are positioned sothat clamp screw does not engage thereon, but engages adjacent thereto.In the case where the headboard leg is not provided with predrilled boltholes, appropriate holes can be drilled for the installation of legscrews or through bolts, employing the bolt slots 82 and 84. Thus, theheadboard supports 10 and 16 provide for clamping to any type ofheadboard, with adequate lateral and vertical adjustability to holdtheheadboard in non-bed-supporting position above the floor.

It is clear that the headboard supports 10 and 16 can be attached toother types of structures, such as footboards or other panels orstructures of decorative value with respect to the bed. Furthermore,while it is preferably employed as a support means for supporting such aheadboard above the floor, alternatively that end of the bedframe can besupported on the headboard, thus relieving part or all of the load ofthat end of the bedframe on the casters 26. In other words, theheadboard,

supports can either hold a headboard up or down with respect to thebedframe and, thus, may be considered in more broad terms as beingbedframe brackets.

This invention having been described in its preferred embodiment, it isclear that it is susceptible to numerous modifications and embodimentswithin the ability of those skilled in the art and without the exerciseof the inventive faculty. Accordingly, the scope of this invention isdefined by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A bed frame bracket comprising:

means for attaching said bedframe bracket to a selfsupporting bedframe;

a body bracket on said bedframe bracket said body bracket having lateralslots therein;

means for attaching said bedframe bracket to a headboard, said means forattaching comprising a clamp hook, said clamp hook being movably mountedwith respect to said body bracket, said clamp hook carrying first andsecond hooks thereon, said first and second hooks on said clamp hookextending through said lateral slots in said body bracket toprovide'lateral adjustment of said hooks with respect to said bodybracket, said first and second hooks each being dimensioned and saidfirst and second hooks being spaced to engage uponseparate crosspins inthe headboard, a clamp screw through said clamp hook, said clamp screwbeing engageable against said body bracket so that, when said clampscrew is tightened, said hooks are pulled therein with said bolt passingtherethrough so that said body bracket may be vertically adjusted withrespect to said adaptor.

3. The bedframe bracket of claim 2 wherein said body bracket has saidupright slot therethrough, ears extending from said adaptor into saidslot in said body bracket adjacent said bolt to inhibit rotation of saidbody bracket with respect to said adaptor around said bolt.

1. A bed frame bracket comprising: means for attaching said bedframebracket to a self-supporting bedframe; a body bracket on said bedframebracket said body bracket having lateral slots therein; means forattaching said bedframe bracket to a headboard, said means for attachingcomprising a clamp hook, said clamp hook being movably mounted withrespect to said body bracket, said clamp hook carrying first and secondhooks thereon, said first and second hooks on said clamp hook extendingthrough said lateral slots in said body bracket to provide lateraladjustment of said hooks with respect to said body bracket, said firstand second hooks each being dimensioned and said first and second hooksbeing spaced to engage upon separate crosspins in the headboard, a clampscrew through said clamp hook, said clamp screw being engageable againstsaid body bracket so that, when said clamp screw is tightened, saidhooks are pulled toward said body bracket to clamp a headboard againstsaid body bracket so that the headboard can be maintained innon-supporting, above-floor engagement position by said bedframebrackets.
 2. The bedframe bracket of claim 1 wherein said bedframebracket also includes an adaptor, said body bracket and said adaptorhaving a bolt therethrough so that said bolt can be tightened to securesaid body bracket with respect to said adaptor, at least one of saidadaptor and said body bracket having an upright slot therein with saidbolt passing therethrough so that said body bracket may be verticallyadjusted with respect to said adaptor.
 3. The bedframe bracket of claim2 wherein said body bracket has said upright slot therethrough, earsextending from said adaptor into said slot in said body bracket adjacentsaid bolt to inhibit rotation of said body bracket with respect to saidadaptor around said bolt.